


A Necessary Appetite

by SandyFeral



Category: Kid Cosmic (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, this was a weird fic to suddenly write but it was fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 01:14:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29393919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SandyFeral/pseuds/SandyFeral
Summary: Nutrition is one of the inevitable complications of having an alien stuck with you. Especially when that alien is as stubborn and unhelpful as Chuck insisted on being.Turning what should be a simple problem into a bit of an ordeal for the Local Heroes. More specifically, for Jo.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 106





	A Necessary Appetite

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place a little after the time episode 4 begins. It was supposed to be a lot shorter but I kinda went ham so... enjoy!

Having half of an alien next to him when he woke up was becoming a fairly normal part of Kid’s day. It wasn’t as if his presence hadn’t been exciting at first. “Stuck Chuck,” as Jo had dubbed him was after all, the first alien Kid had met and defeated! However, with Chuck having been neutralized (three separate times in fact), he was sort of… just _there._

So as Kid woke up for another day of protecting the planet, he ignored Chuck and the insults he threw out. Right up until the moment Kid tripped over the alien’s (purposely placed) arm and fell out the door.

“I’m okay!” Kid said, jumping back up immediately.

“Didn’t ask,” he heard Chuck reply from inside the trailer.

Ignoring him, Kid quickly reached back in to grab a comic book. He had just been re-reading it and new thoughts were buzzing in his head. Without delay, he ran towards the main road into town, ready to share his new plans with the team.

With only a slight wobble he jumped and started flying. He was almost out of the junkyard when a purple glowing circle appeared before him. Quickly, he skidded to a halt just before Jo’s head and arms popped out.

“Jo!” He exclaimed. “You’re early!”

“Yeah well, I just thought-”

“That’s perfect!” Kid grabbed the older girl’s arm and pulled the rest of her out. 

“Hey!” Jo yelped, but Kid seemed to be in his own world.

“C’mon, help me go get Rosa. I was just reading one of my old issues and I had this great idea that we could-”

Jo put her hands on Kid’s shoulders, holding him steady. It hadn’t even occurred to him that he had been moving so much.

“That’s exactly why I came to talk about. Just slow down for a minute,” Jo said. She reached into another portal and pulled out a plate of food. “How about having breakfast first?”

There was only a moment's pause before he shook his head. 

“Thanks Jo, but I’ll eat later. Right now it’s time to get the team together!”

Another attempt to fly away was stopped by the teen’s hand grabbing Kid’s ankle and pulling him down.

“Listen kid, you think I haven’t noticed you skipping meals? We spend all this time on this hero stuff, and sometimes it’s been getting in the way of just… you know, basic life!” Jo winced at a thought. “I know I missed meals with my mom a couple times and that was _soooo_ hard to explain. Th-the point is, you’ve got it worst of all of us, so at least today maybe you should sit down and just eat some breakfast!”

With that, she thrust the plate into Kid’s hands, and started nudging him towards the trailer. Then she paused, remembering Chuck was inside. 

“Maybe not in your headquarters though,” Jo said. “Wouldn’t want Chuck, I dunno, taking it all for himself or something? That guy is seriously a jerk.”

Kid had been quickly shoveling food into his mouth, but at that he stopped for a moment. “No, heh wown’t.”

“What?” Jo glanced down. “Augh, Kid! I can’t understand you with food in your mouth.”

After swallowing, he spoke again. 

“Every time I eat inside, he talks about how he thinks the food looks awful. He probably wouldn’t take the food even if I wanted to give it to him,” Kid said. Then he quickly began scarfing down the food on the plate again.

“Figures,” Jo rolled her eyes. “Getting him to eat must be even harder than getting you to eat, huh Kid?”

“Dunno,” he said around a mouthful of eggs.

“Well you’ve tried… haven’t you?”

The confused look on Kid’s face was enough of an answer for Jo. At that, she didn’t know whether to feel concern or… or what? It felt weird to be worried for the guy that had tried to kill them and wanted to take over their planet. But obviously they shouldn’t just let him _die_.

“Look,” she said. “I know Chuck is our enemy and all, but I think we should just make sure he’s eating. At least a little bit.”

After taking a moment to clean his plate, Kid shook his head. “We can do that later, we have more important things to do right now!”

“Kid...” Jo said. “I know you were excited about something today, but Chuck’s been here for like, a week, and I don’t think he’s eaten at all. How do we know how long he can survive without food? I don’t think it would feel right to just let him starve, even if he’s a bad guy.”

That seemed to make Kid deflate and he sighed. “No, you’re right… a hero probably wouldn’t let his enemy starve.” Immediately followed by him perking back up. “Maybe Papa G’s been feeding him! He is the one always talking about how he wants to befriend him.”

“Good point!” Jo made a portal into the nearby house and moved through with Kid. “Papa G?”

The old man seemed to be doing some housework, but quickly stopped at the sight of the two. “Aw hey Jo! You’re here early! Need something?”

“Uh yeah,” Jo said. “We were just wondering if by any chance you’ve given Chuck any food while he’s been here?”

“Well sure I have!” Papa G said. “I leave him a few snacks every now and then.”

“Oh good.” Jo oddly felt a little relieved at that.

“Great!” Kid began to float again. “Now we can-”

“Though, come to think of it,” Papa G continued. “I don’t really know if he’s been eatin’ them. Never seems to want to do it while I’m around.”

A groan arose from Jo and Kid in unison. They all knew by now that Chuck was stubborn, but this seemed unnecessary. Jo was just about to say something when her phone started buzzing.

“Oh shoot! I need to get back to my mom.” Jo opened another portal, then turned back. “Why don’t you just, uh go ask Chuck yourselves so we can just move on!” 

Before Kid could protest, Jo was gone. 

“Great!” Papa G said. “I’ll go make a couple sandwiches for him! Just in case he’s hungry right now.”

Inside the trailer, Chuck was hoping to make something of his own. He had been collecting parts from things he’d found lying around, but right now they just weren’t fitting together. Just one more configuration though… or maybe this one?

“Stupid inferior technology…” he muttered to himself. 

Suddenly the door swung open. In a moment, Chuck slid the pieces he had been working with out of sight, and turned to see the Kid and the old man. And they were holding… food?

“Hey buddy!” Papa G said, giving the alien a big smile and stepping in. 

Kid however didn’t move in. He stood against the doorframe, his focus shifting around, and his leg bouncing.

“Hello _old man_ ,” Chuck said, not even attempting to match Papa G’s friendly tone.

“We were just wondering how you’ve been liking the snacks I’ve been leaving for ya! Or if you’ll be needing more food brought over,” Papa G said. “Wouldn’t want you bitin’ the dust just because we haven’t been feedin’ you enough! Right Kid?”

“Yeah,” Kid said. 

The arch of one of Chuck’s eyes went up at that. “You mean the pity food you’ve been throwing at me? Yeah I haven’t been liking it _at all_ . In fact I haven’t been eating it. You think I would take food from _you_?”

“Well you have to eat _something_ eventually don’t you?” Kid asked. “No one else around here is going to give it to you. Unless… you don’t eat at all? I mean if you did, without your bottom half how would you… _you know_.”

Chuck rolled his eyes. “No, I don’t know.”

“I mean, how would you go-”

Kid’s mouth was covered by Papa G before he could finish. 

“Uh, maybe don’t ask him that Kid,” Papa G said. “Probably an uncomfortable subject. But anyway, back to the eatin’ part!”

“Yes,” Chuck said. “Well, with the Great Leader in control of this miserable planet, I’m sure we’d have a great feast over the remains of your Earth. As the one responsible for our victory, I’d have all the food I need. Until then, I can wait. I’m not desperate enough yet to take food from my enemies.” He was quiet for a moment, then his tone shifted slightly. “Also, everyone knows not to just eat things from a planet you’re invading.”

Lifting into the air a bit, Kid moved over to Chuck and got up in his face. “Maybe you should just forget about that, and just take what we give you, because we’re not letting your invasion happen!”

Before Kid could do anything else, one of Papa G’s arms wrapped around his middle and pulled him away from the alien. 

“Now Kid, no need to be aggressive,” the older man said. “Y’know I don’t think you need to see us as enemies. This could be the start of a great friendship!” He picked up a sandwich and held it in front of the alien and wiggled it a little. “Besides, if you don’t accept our help, you’ll never get to try one of these!”

Chuck slapped the sandwich to the ground, only for another to appear in Papa’s hand. This happened once more, and then Chuck simply pushed the hand away.

“What makes you think I want _those?_ ” He asked. “Not every being has the same taste as you humans you know.”

“Then why did you say the alien spaceship had coffee in it?” Kid asked.

“What? Oh.” Chuck sighed. “Whatever that is, that’s not what I _actually_ said. The translation device just picks the closest word in your human language. Seriously, don’t you know anything about how interplanetary language translators work? Oh, that’s right, you **don’t**. You don’t actually know anything about aliens, except what you learned from inaccurate comic books.”

Just as a retort was about to spill out of Kid’s mouth, one of Jo’s portals opened up next to him. The teen came out, Rosa trailing behind her.

“Sorry about leaving! Mom wanted to check in on me and I thought I might as well pick up Rosa while I was out.” Jo looked around the room as the portal closed behind her. “So… what’s going on now?”

“Chuck isn’t going to eat!” Kid said, crossing his arms. “He says he doesn’t want to until his great leader takes over Earth. Which _won’t happen!_ ”

“It will,” Chuck spat back without hesitation. 

“Dude, you have to eat. Do you think we want to have to see you die?” Jo said.

The alien looked slightly perplexed. “...Yes? Why wouldn’t you?”

“Because... we don’t? Look, I’m not going to explain it to you, but have you even considered that if your ‘Great Leader’ _does_ come and take over the Earth…” Jo shot a glance at Kid. “Which they probably won’t because we can stop them! ...Maybe. Anyway, have you even thought about the fact that it may take really long and maybe you can’t last that long without eating anything?”

For a moment it looked like Chuck was about to say something, but nothing came out. It seemed like this was actually something he hadn’t considered before. He actually began thinking this over. In the end however, he made up his mind.

“I’m sure it won’t come to that. The Great Leader hasn’t failed me before.”

“Oh for crying out loud,” Jo said. 

She felt a tug at her pants. Looking down, Jo saw Rosa at her leg.

“What are you guys doiiiing,” she groaned. “I wanna go play!”

Jo took a deep breath and crouched down to talk to Rosa. “Sure, you can go play. We’re just…” she thought back to her babysitting experience with the little girl. “You know how when we’re home we would sit down at the table to play airplane?”

Rosa smiled at the thought and nodded. 

“Well we’re just trying to get the airplane,” Jo pointed at the sandwiches. “To Chuuu- I mean… lobster boy?” She looked down at the girl to see if she got it right, but Rosa seemed to have understood.

“Oooh, oooooh! I can do that, easy!” Rosa said, bouncing on her feet.

“Oh no…” Chuck said.

Before he could protest, Rosa grabbed one of the sandwiches and with a cry of “here comes the airplane!”, pushed it into where Chuck’s mouth should be. 

“Rosa that’s not! Um… okay never mind,” Jo said, giving up on chastising her as she had already done it.

“Well… I guess that’s one way to get him to eat…” Papa G said, looking a bit concerned, but trying to smile at the little girl. “Uh, good job Rosa…”

At the very least, the action seemed to have gotten Chuck to keep the sandwich in his mouth. He may have been glaring at the group but he seemed to be… chewing? There were movements around his mouth but they weren’t entirely comparable to normal chewing.

Then his expression changed, and he stiffened. The team exclaimed in revolution as the sandwich came back out in a discolored liquified mess. A shiver ran through Chuck’s body but he regained his composure and wiped his mouth.

“And that,” he said. “Is why I don’t eat from the planets I’m invading.”

“So this was all a waste of time?” Kid whined.

“Ew yucky!!” Rosa cried.

“I guess there’s just nothing more to be done here,” Papa G said. “Why don’t we just head on outside?”

With that, the three of them headed outside. Only Jo and Chuck were in the trailer now.

“Well that was pointless,” the alien said.

“What is your problem?” Jo said. “I know Rosa was a bit rough, but she was just trying to help! You didn’t need to do…” she gestured to the floor, “... _that._ ”

“Not my fault that my body had a bad reaction to this stuff!”

Jo cringed, as she watched Chuck’s tongue flick out as he spit out more of that stuff. “And why are you still doing it?”

“The taste is in my mouth now I can’t get it out!” He made a coughing sound. “It’s disgusting.”

“Uuuuhggghhh.” Jo rubbed her temples. “I’m going to try one last time. If I bring you something you actually like will you _finally_ just eat and stop doing that gross thing?”

“I don’t want _more_ of your food I-” He was interrupted by more of his own coughing and he bent over. His hands pressed against the ground and his head facing towards the floor. When the coughing finally died down he spoke, this time in a weaker voice. “ _...fine._ I’ll eat your stupid food. Just don’t bring me any more of… whatever that was made of.”

“Any suggestions on what I _should_ bring you?” Jo asked.

“I don’t know. How should I have any idea what your food is like?”

“Of course.” Jo didn’t even have the energy left to sigh as she opened a portal back to the diner.

Stepping through, she questioned why she was putting this much effort in at this point. But then again, it wasn’t really a choice. At least, it didn’t feel like one. So, which great caution, she began to grab a few things from the diner. Not a lot, just enough so Chuck could see if he liked it. She didn’t want him making an even bigger mess, and she _definitely_ didn’t want her mom catching her swiping the food.

Little by little, Jo made her way through their menu. Some of which caused another bad reaction in Chuck, but most of which just got strange comments out of him. Including, “is this supposed to be meat?” directed at the bacon.

They had made their way most of the way through the breakfast menu when Jo decided to throw one of their desserts into the mix. Now Chuck held a donut (upside down) and gave it a lick.

“Ugh terr-” he paused. “Actually, that’s kinda good! I mean. For Earth food.”

“Uh, you know the best part is on the other side right?” Jo said.

“Huh?” He flipped the donut over to reveal the icing and sprinkles on the other side. “This is a lot more _colorful_ than most of your food.”

He gave the top a tentative lick. Then, his expression changed. Jo had never seen him look so, well, happy would be how she described it. His eyes had widened, and there was something different about the way he held himself for a moment. 

“Ohh… this is so...” he began. Then he saw her looking at him and his face and posture returned. “Not bad.”

“Really? You think so?”

“Yeah. I do. You don’t have to look so smug about it.”

Chuck looked away from her and put more of the donut to his mouth. There was about a minute of strange silence. For some reason Jo was waiting until he finished. As if being there would prevent this from somehow going wrong. When the alien finally finished she felt a slight bit of tension release. 

Jo was about to go out to join the rest of the team when she heard Chuck speak once more.

“You wouldn’t… happen to be able to get more would you?”

At this point when Jo portaled into the diner she decided to just get a dozen box of donuts… or maybe two. Just to be safe. Now that she knew what Chuck wanted, she did _not_ want to have to keep going in and out of the diner. 

She just needed to get in and out without her mother…

“Jo, what are you doing?”

Jo, two boxes of donuts in her arms, turned to see her mom standing with a stern expression on her face. She gulped.

“Oh, hi mom!” She said, mentally kicking herself for getting herself into this. “I was just… you know looking after Kid and Rosa and we had been uhhhh… doing a lot of running around! Yeah, and they were hungry, and they wanted donuts. You know how kids are when they get an idea of what they want in their head.”

Flo’s frown deepened. “And you’re just taking the donuts we’re supposed to be giving to customers?” 

“I will…” Jo gritted her teeth. Chuck better be grateful for this. “I’ll pay for it, okay? They were just really insistent, I promise I won’t do it again.”

Flo inhaled deeply but her face softened a bit. “Fine. But I’m expecting you to keep your word on this one!”

“Yes! Mom, I’ll do it! Thank you,” she gave a little chuckle out of sheer relief. “I knew you’d understand!”

When Flo turned away, Jo turned to find Tuna staring at her. She balanced the boxes in one hand for a moment then opened a portal. She nodded at the cat to follow her, then got out as quickly as possible. Her portal was a little bit off, but with two boxes of donuts in her hands, she would rather walk past the rest of the team than risk dropping them to free her hand a second time.

As she walked by the rest others their eyes followed her. Rosa, having seen that sort of box many times, recognized her package.

“Donuts!” She cried, instantly distracted from what they had been doing before Jo arrived.

“Yes, these are donuts,” Jo said. “Turns out they’re one of the only things at the diner Chuck will actually eat.”

With a little effort, she used her foot to swing the door open and drop the boxes in front of the startled alien.

“So you actually got him to eat?” Kid asked. “He’s… not going to die?”

“It took way more effort than it needed to.” She glared at Chuck, who was ignoring her in favor of looking inside the boxes. “But yeah. Problem _finally_ solved.”

“I want donuts too!” Rosa cried, running over to the trailer.

Somewhat to the other’s surprise, Chuck handed over one of the donuts to the girl without complaint. She giggled and began to stuff it in her face. Soon enough they realized he wasn’t really going to eat the whole two dozen, and had all grabbed themselves one. Tuna, not being interested, had simply settled himself into one of the empty boxes. But they were all there. Together.

“You know it’s funny,” Jo was saying. “I never expected _this_ to be the food you’d like.”

“Why? What’s wrong with it?” Chuck asked defensively. “You all seem to like it.”

“Well I thought you’d eat worms or bugs or something!” Kid said.

Rosa wrinkled her nose. “Ewww, no! Lobster boy of course eats lobster foods, duh!”

“Yeah, neither of those are why I thought you wouldn’t like it,” Jo said. “I just thought that they’re. Well, they’re really sugary and sweet! I didn’t think you were the type.”

“Well maybe I like sugary things!” Chuck said, crossing his arms. “You don’t know.”

“Heck, if you like sweet and sugary things I’ve got some sweet tea in the house!” Papa G chimed in.

“Well I don’t know if I’d go that far,” Chuck began.

It was already too late as the old man had sent one of his clones to bring them all some drinks, and a few more sweet things for Chuck to try.

After they had all finished the donuts and drinks, it wasn’t long before Tuna’s meows alerted them of a new threat. They followed the cat out of the junkyard, leaving Chuck in the trailer with a few snacks. The rest of the day was fairly busy for Jo, going between the diner and alien battles, but eventually they made their way back to the junkyard. 

That was when Jo remembered the mess Chuck had left in the trailer.

“I’ll handle it,” Jo said.

“You sure?” Papa G asked. “I mean I couldn’t ask that if you. That gunk is nasty. I could just get some of my selves to do it!”

Jo considered. She really did not want to go near that stuff but… “No, no. I’ll do it. My mom has this cleaner that works wonders, and it can’t be much worse than the messes I’ve had to deal with in the diner or babysitting Rosa. Plus… you know I was the one who brought it up the in the first place.”

“And I’m glad you did,” Papa G said. “You did the right thing. Charles is probably grateful deep down.”

“I know it was the right thing, but grateful? Chuck? I’m not sure about that.”

“Oh he may not show it. A lotta people don’t. But even if he’s not grateful now, I bet he will be one day. Lookin’ out for others always has some sort of impact.”

Jo nodded, but still had her doubts. And inside the trailer, Chuck pulled away from the door he had been listening at. 

Him, grateful? As if. He hated being on this stupid planet with its stupid technology and stupid food. Even if some of that food tasted better than anything he had ever had. It must still be inferior… somehow. And now he was stuck with it because of them.

Why would he be grateful for their pity? They always acted as if that wasn’t what it was, but what other reason would they have to do that? There… there couldn’t be any other reason. They were enemies.

...right?

When Jo came back through her portal into the trailer, Chuck already knew what he was going to say.

“I heard what you were talking about outside. He’s wrong,” Chuck said immediately.

“Yeah I know,” Jo said nonchalantly. Then she walked straight past him and kneeled down to start cleaning up the mess.

Chuck narrowed his eyes and used his hands to scooch himself closer to her. “I don’t know why you had to go through so much effort. I mean really, you yourself said it was more than needed. And for what, because you pity me? You shouldn’t. I don’t need your pity.”

“Dude, I didn’t do it because I pity you.”

“Yes you did!”

Jo threw her hands up. “No, I didn’t! I literally just didn’t want you dying on us, is that so hard to understand?”

“But why do you care? It’s counterproductive! Are you so bad at this that you can’t figure that out?”

Jo was silent for a minute. Chuck almost felt that was a victory in itself. For a moment he almost felt satisfaction in it. But it ended.

“Have you ever considered maybe none of us needs or even wants to bury another body, even if it’s yours?” Jo asked. “And maybe, even though he doesn’t think of you this way, maybe even though you’re a _pain in the ass_ … Kid doesn’t need to lose anyone or anything else in his life.”

Chuck was stumped. “What are you trying to say?”

Jo sighed. “I don’t know! Maybe death just bothers us more than you. Maybe you’re just… familiar now and I don’t think of you as much of a threat. Maybe I’m just making excuses and I secretly care about you for some reason!” She finished cleaning and stood up, turning to face him. “All I know is it makes more sense for me to keep you alive for no reason, than to want you dead.”

“... I really don’t understand you people.” Was Chuck’s only response.

“Of course,” Jo said. “I knew you wouldn’t.” She chuckled to herself. “This was so stupid.”

She walked to the door, and said one last thing before she left. 

“I don’t know why I ever bothered.”


End file.
